Crash and burn

Chapter 60

I was still in shock the next day on the way to the race. Missy perplexed me to say the least. My eyes were glued to her as she talked to Jess in the garage before the race.

LN: "I talked it out with her if that's what you were wondering."

Lando had crept up next to me and caught me staring.

YN: "good."

I didn't have anything else to say.

He licked his lips as he eyed me off. I was careful to hide my disappointment, feeling his gaze on me as I watched the team prepare the car.

J: "lando over here let's go."

LN: "good luck."

He bumped me in my side to get my attention, I finally looked over at him and smiled.

YN: "you too."

I turned back around to see missy wave at with an over the top smile. I tried my best to match her enthusiasm but it was near impossible.

Taking all the drama off my mind, I moved over to the table to practice my reaction time, talk to some engineers and my performance coach before slipping on my helmet.

AS: "radio check."

YN: "loud and clear."

I moved around getting comfortable in my seat as I ran my eyes over the track layout one more time.

AS: "big day today yn, keep a level head and do your best, we are all here for you."

YN: "cheers Andreas, will do."
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I banged my head against the headrest to get myself fired up before the start. I needed to take an aggressive approach and cut the racing line off from max who usually does really well at the starts.

M: "5 seconds now."

I stretched out my fingers before gripping the wheel tight.

As the lights went out I pulled my car slightly to the right so max couldn't cut across to the left. Come turn one I was wide enough to get good speed and maintain the lead.

M: "okay next few laps we wanna see you go full out and establish a gap if you can. Good start."

YN: "copy."

The nerves began to settle with arguably the hardest part out of the way. Max tried to put a few moves on but in the dirty air he ultimately retreated, I knew he would try again later though.

With ten laps to go the redbull was getting closer and closer.

YN: "ahhhh he is quick."

M: "let him get closer and reserve battery and then go hard."

YN: "alright."

It was daunting to let him get closer but I trusted the process.

M: "okay gap to max now under a second, push push push, 4 laps to go."

I upped the pace, focusing on my turns and breaking points rather than dwelling on the car behind too much.

The last lap came and max was still right behind and was now making strides to get around. I was exhausted and trying my best to defend his relentless attack. With two turns left though and DRS enabled he was too quick, getting around me and stealing the win out of my grasp in the last second.